Weekly Roundup: All signs point to strengthening market in NYC and U.S., owners of luxury homes gild lillies, lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay for sale

Number of Manhattan properties under contract soars, inventory plummets during 2012

Q4 Brooklyn prices post biggest year-over-year price gain since 2006, while Queens median climbs 14 percent

Bars, restaurants and grocery stores can hurt quality of life, resales for residents of apartment buildings

Foreclosures mushroom in Queens, grow somewhat in Staten Island and the Bronx, slide in Brooklyn and Manhattan

Astronaut resists aiming for moon in putting Los Angeles condo on the market

Former baseball star lists sprawling Beverly Hills estate for $25 million

Actors who split in 2011 finally selling their UES triplex, for $9.25 million

TV judge lists Midtown pied-à-terre for $9 million — yes, for a pied-à-terre!

Estate of acerbic intellectual sells Chelsea penthouse to seven-time Emmy winner

Filmmaker offers Greenwich Village co-op for sale but plans no move to North Dakota

At 4.2 million, home sales rise 6 percent in 2012

Inventory drops 17 percent from year earlier and half from 2007 peak

Residential property values up 4.2 percent over year since November 2011

Construction soars of new single-family houses

Price reductions getting harder to find in many markets

Fed’s Beige Book records momentum in mortgage demand, housing market

Asking prices early this month reduced for 36.7 percent of homes, Trulia says

Appraisal process tricky to negotiate

Delinquency rates fall 7.83 percent in a year, but bump recorded in Sandy zips

Loan rates remain mostly steady

Five things to know when making extra loan payments

Mortgage defaults trending upward

Self-employed borrowers can maximize approval of loan application

Loan activity jumps 15.2 percent

Beginning rates for ARMs lowest in 29 years of Freddie Mac’s annual survey

Foreclosure activity increases in 25 states

FHA rolls renovation costs into loans for fixer-uppers — for a price

Private jumbo mortgages could soon become harder, pricer to get

Growing number of qualified wealthy buyers deciding to rent tropy homes

Uptick seen in number of women buying luxury real estate

Becoming landlord can be like reclining on a bed of nails

Rising market starting to help underwater homeowners avoid drowning, and CoreLogic quantifies them

Discount for haunted houses vanishing in booming Hong Kong

Lookers well advised to practice open-house etiquette

Bargain homes lure buyers to Detroit

Yet luxury homes elsewhere boast everything from two home theaters to massive sports complexes

If swimming three miles from home floats your boat, snap up a Chesapeake Bay lighthouse for $250,500

Real estate hot new growth area for business school

Eyes of professional athletes trained on real estate often bigger than fat wallets

You can save a bundle on home phones and other tech bills

Reduce stress on moving day especially in a walk-up

Architects can charge for services three different ways

When it comes to placing artwork, it’s best to follow your eyes

Builders’ mood unchanged at highest level in nearly seven years, and it might portend big economic boost

Saying market bottomed last year, Karl Case forecasts weaker housing recovery in 2013 [at end of column]

Investor demand for houses to rent could dry up, says Radar Logic, causing prices to flatten

You have the option to search privately here for all New York City properties, though I encourage you to be in touch with me for assistance and advice. You also may want to see my critiques of properties that I visit in Out and About, which I post on Mondays or Tuesdays.

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Malcolm Carter
Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker
Senior Vice President
Charles Rutenberg Realty
127 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022

M: 347-886-0248
F: 347-438-3201

Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
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